Wedding Gift Gaffe: Bridezilla Note to Guest Goes Viral

A disagreement about wedding gift etiquette is going viral after an incensed bride basically told a guest to take her crappy gift and shove it.

It all started when Kathy Mason and her boyfriend brought a basket full of snacks as a wedding gift for an acquaintance. The basket was filled with salsas, cookies, marshmallow spread, candies and more, and included a note that said “Life is delicious – enjoy!” While by no means a fancy gift, it was within Mason’s budget.

After the wedding, Mason received the following text from one of the brides:

“I want to thank you for coming to the wedding Friday. I’m not sure if it’s the first wedding you have been to, but for your next wedding … people give envelopes. I lost out on $200 covering you and your dates plate . … and got fluffy whip and sour patch kids in return. Just a heads-up for the future.”

Oof.

Then it got worse when one of the brides asked to see the receipt for Mason’s gift, claiming she’s gluten-intolerant and can’t eat much of the food anyway. A heated email exchange followed:

Mason: “… to ask for a receipt is unfathomable. In fact it was incredibly disrespectful. It was the rudest gesture I have encountered, or even heard of.”

Brides: “Weddings are to make money for your future … not to pay for peoples meals. Do more research. People haven’t gave gifts since like 50 years ago! You ate steak, chicken, booze, and a beautiful venue.”

Mason: “It’s obvious you have the etiquette of a twig, I couldn’t care less of what you think about the gift you received, ‘normal’ people would welcome anything given, you wanna have a party, you pay for it, DON’T expect me to.”

Brides: “You should have been cut from the list … I knew we were gunna get a bag of peanuts. I was right.”

To solve the wedding ethics dilemma, one of the brides told Mason to ask “normal functioning people” whether a food basket is an appropriate gift. So, Mason took the question to a local newspaper, theHamilton Spectator, and the story has blown up from there.

My take? Poor manners all around (Mason’s “etiquette of a twig” line is both confusing and unnecessary, and the gift was a little cheap), but especially on the part of the brides. A wedding isn’t a profit-making venture, it’s a celebration of a couple’s love and their decision to enter into a legal union. If you want to recoup your costs, charge cover — or, you know, don’t throw a wedding that costs $100 a plate.